im sorry if this is gross... i find it a little eerie and harder to look at this picture than it was to take... but as much as i dont want to see these pictures again... i want to know if this was what was wrong with St. Jimmy. my avatar is a picture of him the day or day after i got him, and attached is a picture shortly after he died... 3 days later... at first i thought it was cloudy eye... then fin rot... then maybe SBD... but after he died i read the necropsy sticky and im wondering if that was it... i posted all of his symptoms somewhere on here, ill find it and paste it here so you can see those as well. but based on the following what do you think it was so i can be prepared if it happens again...

HousingWhat size is your tank? 5.5 gallons (about 22 Liters)What temperature is your tank? my thermometer is at 78Does your tank have a filter? yes but the current is too strong for my betta so i tend to keep it off most of the timeDoes your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? noIs your tank heated? yesWhat tank mates does your betta fish live with? none

FoodWhat type of food do you feed your betta fish? Ive tried pellets and flakes but he seems to like the flakes betterHow often do you feed your betta fish? i try to feed him twice a day but in the past 4 days he only ate yesterday. and still spat some of it back out

MaintenanceHow often do you perform a water change? i just put him in his larger tank 2 days ago and he was only in his smaller tank for 2 days but i was told to change it once a weekWhat percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? i was told 25%What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? i have a dechlorinator with trace elements specifically for bettas

Water Parameters:Have you tested your water? If so, what are the following parameters? i havent tested the waterFound this out after he diedAmmonia: .5Nitrite: .5Nitrate: 40pH: 7.2Hardness: 150Alkalinity: 180

Symptoms and TreatmentHow has your betta fish's appearance changed? i noticed white spots in his eyes yesterday but i dont see them today. as i said ive only had him for 4 days so i cant note many changes but i think his eyes may be a bit cloudy and i cant tell because he wont flare today but i think the tips of his caudal fin are changing colors. its hard for me to tell if theyre rotting since hes a crown tail and im not very experiencedHow has your betta fish's behavior changed? it hasnt changed much because i just got him. he doesnt move very much and im often afraid hes dead. he still swims around a little but sometimes i see him floating vertically at the top gasping for air with bubbles coming out of his gills (which lie pretty flat but theyre out enough that i can see a tiny bit of his stuff underneath that used to puff out when he saw his reflection) and then he lets himself sink to the bottom until he touches the rocks and then he swims to the top and repeatsWhen did you start noticing the symptoms? hes always been a little lethargic. i thought it was because i didnt have a heater, but now i do and if anything i think it may have gotten worse. the cloudy eyes/white spot was yesterday but not today, and the floating vertically and sinking was just todayHave you started treating your fish? If so, how? no, i asked my mom to get melafix which i was told fixes cloudy eye but she got something for ick which i see no reason to suspect he hasDoes your fish have any history of being ill? i dont knowHow old is your fish (approximately)? i just bought him and i read that generally they are sold at 6 months old

ammonia (or NH3) shouldn't be in the tank at all, and neither should nitrite! those are very poisonous, and cause sickness. also the level od nitrate you have - 40mg/l is way to high! it should be up to 20 max, 30 can already be lethal.
I assume your tank was not cycled.

After filtering the water for 24 hours I put my new fish in the same tank and then got the water tested. He is fine and seems to be happy. I've changed the water since then but I don't think that's what it was...

Always keep your filter on! If you turn it off, some of the beneficial bacteria will die, and the nitrate and nitrite levels will go up. If the filter current is too strong, I suggest baffling it. There is a sticky somewhere with How-To instructions. Good Luck!

I don't get it. Why do you ask for help if you don't intend to listen and at least try the suggestions people give you to help?

Those water levels were poisonous. If you don't believe, try drinking a glass of that water and you'll see my point very clearly, when you won't be able to decide what you wanna do with the toiet for a week; to either sit on it or hug it?!

I don't think it was the nitrates directly. That usually effects the gills and doesn't turn the fish black. Also that water was tested after the fish was dead and obviously the black part of that fish had already died and was decomposing in the water which didn't help the water quality. Something was wrong with that fish other than bad water... The nitrate hitting that level may have pushed him over the edge quicker but something else was going to kill that fish even if it was in immaculate water.

ive always read that not having a filter is fine. i have a 5.5 gallon tank so i just do water changes every week

You are right. It is fine to not have a filter if you do 100% water changes weekly. However, it is very dangerous to improperly use a filter. You can either have a tank with no filter or have a tank with a filter on 24/7. You can't have a tank with a filter you turn off and on. It has to be one or the other. If you don't want to run the filter continously, then take it out of the set up all together. If you want to use a filter, but the flow is too high, then baffle it.

The way I baffle my filters is a mix of two methods. On the intake tube I stick on a piece of filter sponge. I cut a little X in the middle with a knife and then stick the tube in the sponge. For the out let, I use the water bottle method found on this sticky. http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=30139

If you still have trouble with the current then the filter is too strong.

Edit: I should mention that I have a HOB filter. If you have a canister filter, then you baffle the intake with aqaurium sponge by cutting a piece big enough to cover all the grates and holding it in place with a rubber band. The water bottle baffle still works for both.

Last edited by SnowySurface; 03-07-2012 at 08:39 AM.
Reason: Note about different filters

I don't get it. Why do you ask for help if you don't intend to listen and at least try the suggestions people give you to help?

Those water levels were poisonous. If you don't believe, try drinking a glass of that water and you'll see my point very clearly, when you won't be able to decide what you wanna do with the toiet for a week; to either sit on it or hug it?!

i think youre being very rude. i cant try anything when my fish is already dead... also by the time this thread got responses i had already messaged sakura8 to ask her opinion. she said it looked like necropsy and that the disease isnt caused by bad water. i realize my water was bad and ive changed it. therefore i did what you advised before you said it. you dont have to be a jerk about it. i was simply giving more information because i realized i hadnt posted about my new fish being ok in the water. i may not be an expert in fish but im not stupid. if this fish was ok in the same water, that probably wasnt why the first one died. I realize that it didnt help and i realize that i shouldve known to test it. but theres still no reason to be rude